Just bought a pug of ebay which was the usual stab in the dark when buying off ebay, it turned up this morning, it turns out it has a Carbolite 103 frame, i've never heard of this before, sooooo is it any good and worth keeping.

i have 2, not great but haven't broken under my 17stone bulk yet. you will have issues if you want to change the seatpost though

Seatpost, what issues.

i like mine. but the carbolite is the budget model.

seatpost is narrower than standard. so it will be more difficult to find a replacement.

it'll be fine for a first conversion, not the lightest frame in the world though. or even the second lightest. in fact, i think carbolite is a proprietary name for cast-iron. check carefully - if it's old it MAY have a french-threaded BB. if it's 80s or later you'll probably be lucky.

word to the mother - seatposts will be a pain as they created their own special size of tubing - ask BRM.

Carbolite 103 was Peugeot's own way of branding regular steel - nothing special and quite heavy. Raleigh did equivalent with its..oh can't remember what it's called now, you know the one, 8130 or something. A vague bid to suggest it was an alternative to Reynolds and you were getting something good.

Saying that, they still last and people are still riding twenty-five-year-old frames made of them.

usually a 24mm seat tube so If you want to change you'll have to get a 23.4 and shim it up. I just stuck with the stock ones, not a problem if you don't mind using saddle clamps instead of micro adjust.

It's a very flexy tubing which again has its downsides (front derailleur problems on geared) but unless you really REALLY strain the BB it'll be totally fine fixed. Like I said, I'm a heavy fu<ker and I quite like it, the flex soaks up a load of bumps in the road.

Just look after the paintwork/metalwork, it loves the rust if left wet for too long (ie. left outside for days, not hours)

true it isn't a light steel at all but the skinnier tubing slightly makes up for it

Seatpost wise you can get them here, 13 instock last time i looked, unless i'm missing something. http://www.cycleparts.co.uk/product....31ccb21b95f54e

aye, the straight ones, just a bugger for micro adjust

Well i just got in from work and had a good look over it and i'm pretty pleased with it so i think i will be keeping it.There is nothing written or stamped on the BB to suggest what thread it is so i will find out when i strip it, weight wise i'm happy also, it weighs more than my Giant road bike but a hell of a lot less than my mountain bike..........I'm happy for once.

Carbolite light enough - my Peugeot Carbolite (mag alloy it said as well) bike is lighter than my Bianchi Pista once you've removed all the useless bit and add a fixed rear wheel.

"18-23 Carbon Controlled tubing" or something like that I think...Well, that's what's on my Team Banana :)